Waterways Lamentby David Blagrove |
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Along our the British waterways, I’m sorry to relate The boatmen and their families are in a woeful state There are few others in this land, who do so toil and strive And now the Board will take away their calling and their lives They say canals are finished now, they want the cut to die ’Tis more than any man can tell, to know the reason why And while they take our homes from us, our working boats and loads Ten thousand corpses every year, lie bleeding on the roads I little thought I'd see the day, the boats would cease to move The weeds and all the rubbish fill, the boatmen's muddy groove As from the cut its life blood runs, then with it dies its soul The music and the laughter too, with boatmen on the dole There's little work upon the cut for honest boating chaps It's all white paint and fibreglass and dandy yachting caps Although it takes both pride and skill, to steer a loaded pair The pleasure boats go cruising past, with noses in the air The paddle gear is hard to draw, they let the lock gates leak The pounds are filling up with mud, and getting worse each week The dredging boats and piling gangs, do work in bits and parts Our brasses and our painted boats, do hide our breaking hearts |
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